PSD Picosecond Delayer $PSD-065-A-MOD
Contents
1. a H J _ KA X AA D UND UND __ AND UND AE AE AU AA lt gt t t L Courpur touru NIM OUT tt Cop lona Ut wat terav t oo terav TTL OUT Ut t m Lana AS Lam 1s tt tor mt toea Figure 5 Picosecond Delayer timing signals Rising edge selected as significant edge OUTPUT TTL OFF V INPUT eu qu MEM B MEUM quA ps t t t t t t output T uM orr NIM OUT ut too wim oe Ut t PD Teray t Uo i TTL OUT ourpurt 1 ns Corr t t t t t t t t t 1 PD TTL DELAY 2 PD TTL DELAY 5 PD TTL DELAY Figure 6 Picosecond Delayer timing signals The third and fourth pulses are fed within tourpur tnim orc from the rising edge of the second pulse t2 and thus the NIM OUT hides their corresponding output pulses The same happens for the TTL OUT Rising edge selected as significant edge 10 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer precision and temperature dependence The Picosecond Delayer has a nominal step delay of 10 ps In order to reduce as much as possible the integral non linearity and the differential non linearity each instrument is fully characterized and calibrated As a result the curve measured delay versus set delay is almost ideal and the integral non linearity error defined as the measured dela2. FTDI integrated circuits IC www ftdi com This IC allows an easy implementation of the bridging between the USB port to an UART interface As a consequence the only thing needed for communicating with the MPD instrument is creating on the host computer a Virtual Serial COM For this purpose then the user is required only to correctly download install and configure the FTDI appropriate drivers by visiting the following web pages http www ftdichip com Support Documents InstallGuides htm http www ftdichip com Drivers VCP htm Please note also that in case of Linux starting from Ubuntu 11 10 kernel 3 0 0 19 all FTDI devices are directly supported Once the Virtual serial COM has been created the Picosecond Delayer is controlled through the provided ASCII commands listed and explained in the previous paragraph Expert users can also build their own visual interface using Xcode in case of Mac Os X or their preferred tools normally employed in case of Linux 25 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Differences between HW v5 or higher and HW v4 With Picosecond delayer HW v5 and higher we added the possibility to divide the input frequency by a positive integer all the other characteristics remain unchanged PC software version 6 x x works seamlessly with hardware v4 and above In case your delayer is HW version 4 the following differences compared t
3. ap IV PHOTON DEVICES MICRO PHOTON DEVICES PSD Picosecond Delayer PSD 065 A MOD Micro Photon Devices S r l Via Stradivari 4 39100 Bolzano BZ Italy email info micro photon devices com Phone 39 0471 051212 Fax 39 0471 501524 Picosecond Delayer User Manual Version 6 0 1 January 2015 Picosecond Delayer Table of Contents INTRODUCTION PICOSECOND DELAYER HARDWARE CHARACTERISTICS Picosecond Delayer s Front Panel Picosecond Delayer s Rear Panel Picosecond Delayer s Electrical Characteristics Calculation of the maximum repetition rate Picosecond Delayer Operation Picosecond Delayer precision and temperature dependence PSD 065 A MOD Picosecond Delayer s mechanical dimensions PICOSECOND DELAYER LOCAL INTERFACE Keyboard Main Screen Settings Menu Load Settings Menu Save Settings Menu Brightness Menu PICOSECOND DELAYER SOFTWARE INTERFACE WINDOWS ONLY Installation Software Interface Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved x IV PHOTON DEVICES 11 12 13 13 13 15 15 16 17 18 18 18 Picosecond Delayer PHOTON DEVICES PICOSECOND DELAYER SERIAL COMMANDS 21 Picosecond Delayer Serial Commands Error 24 PICOSECOND DELAYER LINUX AND MAC OS X 25 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HW V5 OR HIGHER AND HW V4 26 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS 26 COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER 26 3 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVIC
4. The delayer can act also as a frequency divider by a user selectable positive integer ranging from 1 to 999 The digital outputs have a controllable pulse width ranging from 1 ns to 250 ns for both NIM and TTL outputs Input and outputs connectors are SMA Figure 1 shown SPSD 065 A MOD model PICOSECOND DELAYER 8906 NIMOUT TTL 0r PL gt ON DEVICES A 7 C Figure 1 Picosecond Delayer model SPSD 065 A MOD Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer hardware characteristics Picosecond Delayer s Front Panel PICOSECOND A DELAYER NIM OUT TTL OUT MICRO PHOTON DEVICES 6 Vo Figure 2 Picosecond Delayer s Front Panel The Picosecond Delayer front panel presents one SMA input and two output SMA connectors four directional keys and a display see Figure 1 The electrical specifications of the inputs and outputs are reported in Table 1 INPUT NIM OUT TLL OUT DIRECTIONAL KEYS DISPLAY SMA input 50 Ohm with fixed DC impedance The trigger signal can be positive or negative between 2 V and 3 V and the input internal threshold is fully programmable The input signal must have a duration of at least 100 ps 100 mV overdrive and a minimum slew rate of 100 V us in order to be detected correctly by the internal comparator SMA output requires 50 Ohm DC terminated transmission lines The output is a NIM
5. serial commands paragraph or the toggle output status button of the software interface When the delayer is powered on and the default configuration is loaded the outputs are always disabled It is possible to save a maximum of 10 configurations These are not editable but can be deleted or made default Finally a PC saved configuration is always present it cannot be deleted and it is used to save the default one when using the PC software or the SS Save Status serial command In order to understand in detail each one of this menu s components please refer to Table 6 Save Name abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyzo01 23456789 _ 6 Figure 13 Screenshot the picosecond delayer s Save Settings Menu 16 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer PHOTON DEVICES Table 6 Save Settings Menu explained Save Name Shows the name of the configuration to save abcdefghijklmn opqrstuvwxyzo01 Mi 23456789 or composing the contiguration name LETTERS Using directional keys the highlighted letter can be changed as selected Goes back to Settings Screen Removes the last character inserted SHIFT OFF By pressing the ENTER KEY the capital letters are shown and the icon changes to the SHIFT ON one SHIFT ON By pressing the ENTER KEY minuscule letters are shown and the icon changes to the SHIFT OFF one Saves the configuration with the entered name Brig
6. with the echo mode enabled Echoes are also processed only after the receiving of the string terminator 21 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved x I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer Table 9 Serial Port configuration parameters Bit per second 115200 Table 10 Picosecond Delayer Serial Commands DESCRIPTION COMMAND Set Delay Sets the preferred delay in ps The delay can be set in 10 ps steps from 0 to MAX DELAY In case of setting a delay SDXXXXX Wwe value whose units digit is different from the delay is rounded to the nearest tens digit The string sent back is the actual set delay Set Pulse width Sets the preferred pulse width duration in ns The pulse SPXxxxx width duration has non linear steps from 1ns to 250ns The duration is rounded to the nearest possible value The string sent back is the actual set pulse width duration Set tHreshold Sets the preferred threshold voltage in mV The threshold can be set in 10 mV steps from 2V to 2V In case of SHXxxxx m setting a value whose units digit is different from O the threshold is rounded to the nearest tens digit The string sent back is the actual set threshold Set frequency diVider T Sets the preferred frequency divider factor integer from 1 to 999 The string sent back is the actual set divider value Set Edge Sets the significant edge for the trigger in input The SEx command accepts only one digit or 1 after th
7. 9 Picosecond Delayer SPSD 065 A MOD mechanical dimensions All dimensions in 12 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer Local interface The Picosecond Delayer SPSD 065 A MOD can be controlled using a membrane keyboard present on the front panel and TFT display The TFT display is used to show the actual delayer configuration or all the menu used to modify an control it Keyboard The membrane keyboard has four directional keys that are used to navigate through picosecond delayer s pages and menus and one enter button for selecting and confirming the changes Table 2 illustrates in detail the functions of the directional and the enter keys Table 2 Directional keys explained ENTER KEY Used to place in modification mode the highlighted item or to confirm a modified value or to enter in a sub menu UP KEY used to change the highlighted item while navigating inside a menu or to increment the value of a highlighted item DOWN KEY used to change the highlighted item while navigating inside a menus or to decrement the value of a highlighted item LEFT KEY used to change the highlighted item while navigating inside a menu or to move the cursor inside a highlighted number in order to correctly select the digit to modify RIGHT KEY used to change the highlighted item while navigating inside a menu or to move the cursor inside a highlighted number
8. entire delayer configuration this is the 18 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved MPD MICRO PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer delayer configuration that will be loaded when the delayer will be switched on again after having being switched off In order to save different configurations on a PC and recalling them afterwards a drop down menu is provided see Figure 16 on the left The provided help menu Figure 16 on the right is also very useful because it allows to open the instrument user manual and the possibility to check updates for the user manual and the software to the latest version through the internet The COM Port dropdown list box allows the user to select the correct serial COM for communicating with the delayer A correct COM is mandatory for the communication with the delayer A frame surrounds the dropdown list box its actual colour shows the serial link status A red colour indicates a broken link a green colour as shown in Figure 15 indicates an established link File Help Temperature MICRO PHOTON DEVICES SN00024 Delay ps Pulsewidth ns Output frequency Input frequency divided by Figure 15 Screenshot of the graphic user interface 6 Help Load configuration COM Port About Picosecond Delayer Save configuration ee MPD website Temperature COM Port Exit f m d ws 2 User Manual lu 54 192 v MICRO PH
9. followed by a hash 1 command is the string terminator For understanding in detail all the possible commands please refer to Table 10 It is worth noting also that in all the commands described in Table 10 the number of characters reserved for the parameters is not fixed That s why there is an ASCII character string terminator that ends every command sent For example in case of setting a delay of 12ns the command string is SD12000 but if only 1ns has to be set then the command is SD1000 Also all the strings sent from the PSD are always terminated with the Thus following our example above in case of sending SD1000 the answer from the delayer would be 10008 with the EM disabled and SD1000 1000 with EM enabled the echo is always transmitted as first It is also possible to send more commands at the same time to the delayer in these case the commands are simply daisy chained one after the other separated by a Do not use any space to separate them The termination hash is used only once at the end of the string with all the commands as shown here commandO command1 commandxst is the string divider 8 is the string terminator The answers from the PSD will never be daisy chained even in case the commands were but the answer s sequence will respect the transmitted sequence Thus in case of sending SD100 SE14 the answer from the PSD would be 100818 with the EM disabled and 50100 5 1 100 1
10. in order to correctly select the digit to modify Main Screen The main screen see Figure 10 illustrates possible input and output configurations and a shortcut to the settings menu For understanding in detail each of the main menu s components please refer to Table 3 Delay 2300 ps Pulse 19 ns ThLev 1200mV Divider 5 FOX Figure 10 Screenshot of the picosecond delayer s main screen 13 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer IV PHOTON DEVICES Table 3 Main Delayer parameters screen explained Delay 2300 ps Pulse 19 ns ThLev 1200mV Divider 5 Displays the delay set tpg4y The delay value has grey colour when in OFF state green colour if the outputs are enabled and a red colour if the last value set is not valid If this row is highlighted by pressing the ENTER KEY the delay value can be changed By pressing the LEFT KEY or the RIGHT KEY the digit to be modified is selected and with the UP KEY and the DOWN KEY the digit is actually increased decreased During delay value modification it is not possible to change any parameter on the main screen by serial commands delayer in Local Mode Displays the NIM OUT pulse width tourpur TLL OUT pulse width is 1 ns larger than this value Pulse value has grey colour when in OFF state green colour if the outputs are enabled and red colour if the last value set is not valid If this row is highlighted by pressi
11. of INPUT NIM OUT and TTL OUT are described in Table 1 Figure 4 illustrates graphically all the terms and definitions given in Table 1 In Table 1 it is also indicated the programming time which is defined as the time from the end of the serial communication to the time the new configuration is fully applied when changing a single parameter Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer Table 1 Electrical Characteristics of the Picosecond Delayer input and outputs Parameter Symbol Description Max Unit NIM Output low logic level High 50 O termination required NIM Output high logic level Low 50 O termination required 800 NIM Output Bandwidth TTL Output Bandwidth BWrt TTL Output low logic level 50 termination required TTL Output high logic level VITL High 50 O termination required Propagation delay INPUT NIM OUT tpp Propagation delay INPUT TTL OUT tpp Delay programmable range trance Equivalent to Ay max Delay programmable range 7 Temperature variation Atrance 5 5 toetay ns Random timing jitter RMS tpeLAY trange Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved x I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer Delay step 10 Delay integral non linearity INL Full scale range 100 50 ps Input frequency divider factor 1 99 OUTPUT pulse duration tour
12. orc and on the input frequency divider factor n It follows that the maximum repetition rate at the output side is 1 1 max output NIM X m n BWyry n Coutput UNIM OFF 1 1 max out utTTL X min toutput 1 ns The picosecond delayer maximum repetition rate is than the minimum between fimax input fmax output Picosecond Delayer Operation Normally as shown in Figure 5 the Picosecond Delayer generates an output digital pulse with an user adjustable delay for every input trigger event As can be seen in Figure 5 the delayer actually generates always two digital pulses one negative based on the NIM standard at the NIM OUT output and one positive based on the LVTTL standard at the TTL OUT output Of course the input trigger period can be shorter than set delay the module simply delays in time the input pulses while keeping their repetition rate The minimum delay between an input trigger event and an output pulse is given by intrinsic propagation delay tpp for NIM OUT and tpp for TTL OUT An additional programmable delay can be set by the user from ns to an achievable maximum value trance in order to have the desired total delay Users can also set the output pulses width Particularly the NIM OUT pulse width tourpur is adjustable from 1 ns to 250 ns in fixed steps TTL OUT s pulse width is always 1 ns longer than NIM OUT s one The delayer can also act as a freq
13. E String sent from Board 1 Current output status disabled Command RO String sent from Board 0 Current divider 823 Command RV String sent from Board 823 Current output status disabled Current threshold voltage 1210 mV Current Delay 12 3 ns Current significant edge low gt high Current pulse width duration 21 ns Current divider 100 Command RA String sent from Board D12300 P21 T1210 EO0 ES1 V100 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved 23 Picosecond Delayer Request Maximum Delay Requests the maximum delay of the board Request Serial Number Requests the MPD serial number of the board Request ID Requests the custom ID of the board In case the current board s ID is null the string sent back is a space Memorize ID Saves the Custom ID of the board Max length is 15 char The name doesn t accept string separator and string terminator chars Request Intrinsic Propagation Delay The returned value is expressed in ps Request Firmware Version With this command the delayer sends back the firmware version Request Hardware Version Send back the hardware version x IV PHOTON DEVICES Current Maximum delay 51230 ps Command RMD String sent from Board 51230 SN SNOO001 Command RSN String sent from Board SNOOO01 Current board s ID test board Command RID String sent from Board test board Command MiDname ID name Stri
14. ES Introduction The MPD Picosecond Delayer is a solid state delayer based on programmable delay chips Any signal that is fed in the SMA input is reshaped delayed in time and routed to the SMA outputs The reshaping generates both a TTL and a NIM pulse independently on the type and form of the input pulse The minimum delay Propagation Delay is on average 15 ns The user selectable additional delay Programmable Delay can be set from ns to 50 ns within 10 ps steps The output pulses duration is also user adjustable from 1 ns to 250 ns The delayer can be set directly on the instrument by using a membrane keyboard and a color LCD or it can be also operated via USB by means of a graphical user interface GUI software This software runs only on PCs running Microsoft Windows XP or higher The provided device drivers install a Virtual Serial COM and the delayer is controlled by plain text ASCII commands sent to the correct COM port Since the commands are here provided page 21 the Picosecond Delayer can be easily integrated in any custom control software and experimental set up Also because the device drivers are provided also for Linux and Mac Os X the instrument can be effectively operated with no problem by PCs using these operating systems The delayer accepts periodic and aperiodic input signals with amplitudes from 2V to 3V and can be triggered either on positive or negative edges with an adjustable threshold ranging from 2V to 2V
15. OTON DEVICES Serial Humber ID Check updates automatically Serial Number buses SN00024 SN00024 TOGGLE SAVE CLOSE COM DGE OUTPUT STATUS STATUS amp EXIT Threshold mV OUTPUT OUTPUT Delay ps Pulsewidth ns Delay ps Pulsewidth ns Output frequency Input frequency divided by Output frequency 7 Input frequency divided by Figure 16 Screenshot of the graphic user interface menus 19 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES The CLOSE COM amp EXIT as well as the exit item in the File menu and the usual x button at the top right corner closes the serial link and terminates the program Table 8 Software interface explained OUTPUT STATUS MODIFIER By pressing this button the output status changes from disabled to enabled or vice versa A virtual LED is switched on whenever the output is enabled EDGE SELECTION By pressing this button the valid edge selection changes from low high to high gt low or vice versa SAVE STATUS When this button is pressed the actual configuration input threshold level input significant edge delay output pulse width and input frequency divider overwrites the PC saved configuration settings inside the module This configuration is also then marked as default CLOSE COM CLOSE COM amp EXIT Stops the communication and exit the program COM Port SERIAL LINK STATUS A red frame around the COM por
16. PUT 1 50 ns ns 9 2 OUTPUT pulse step Atour Pulse width incremental step 3 3 3 3 5 tNiM OFF and irrLorr are guaranteed to be the equal on a module t OUTPUT off time MM irr orr OUTPUT pulse width jitter tour jitter of pulse duration OUTPUT pulse width INL tour INL max 5 1 ns Programming time tPROG 1 ms Power supply 12V 1A INPUT p TPR IN Low V MM High top elay NIM OUT A 30 Loureur Vni Huh t t PD TTL Delay TTL OUT 5096 5096 Veri ue t 1ns OUTPUT Figure 4 Timing NIM OUT and TTL OUT whit respect to the INPUT signal Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Calculation of the maximum repetition rate The picosecond delayer input is internally connected to a fast comparator whose output is fed to a pulse shaper The input pulse duration tn is thus totally un related to the internal reshaped pulse duration As a consequence the maximum repetition rate at the input side can be calculated as follows 1 max input tz 100 ps where 100 ps is the minimum both negative and positive input pulse duration tiy according to Table 1 Considering the NIM output pulse length equal to tou the maximum repetition rate at the output side depends on the maximum frequency of the selected output BWyim for NIM OUT and BW for TTL OUT on the duration of the output pulse toutput on the minimum output off time orr Or tr
17. ange any parameter on the main screen by serial commands delayer in Local Mode FALLING EDGE Identify the falling edge of the input signal as trigger edge By Pressing the ENTER KEY the significant edge changes to the rising edge RISING EDGE Identify the rising edge of the input signal as the trigger edge By pressing the ENTER KEY the significant edge changes to the falling edge OFF STATE When this icon is shown the NIM OUT and the TTL OUT are disabled By pressing the ENTER KEY the outputs are enabled ON STATE When this icon is shown the NIM OUT and TTL OUT are enabled By pressing the ENTER KEY the outputs are disabled SETTINGS By pressing the ENTER KEY the Settings Menu is shown on the display 14 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer x I PHOTON DEVICES Settings Menu The settings menu illustrated in Figure 11 shows the shortcuts to the following menus load settings save settings brightness and product information In order to understand in detail each of the settings menu s al el 9 components please refer to Table 4 Highlighted icon descrip Figure 11 Screenshot of the picosecond delayer s settings screen Table 4 Settings screen explained Show PRODUCT INFORMATION Go BACK to main screen Load Settings Menu Load Settings Menu illustrated in Figure 12 shows the saved configurations Saved configurations can be loaded set as defau
18. anged FREQUENCY DIVIDER Sets shows the input frequency divider factor The current value can be changed by Output frequency 7 Input frequency divided by simply modifying it and then pressing the enter key or by using the up and down directional keys The factor is automatically updated when changed 20 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer Serial Commands Picosecond Delayer PSD also accepts remote commands through a Serial Virtual COM Commands are simply ASCII strings sent over the virtual COM by any program communicating with a RS 232 The delayer will process every transmitted command string only after having received the string terminator The PSD will also respond to every sent command with a string containing either the answer to a request or the actual applied new setting When in Echo Mode EM the delayer will also reply back the string received with the serial interface Echo Mode is enabled by default at power up and should never be turned off when using the PC software since it might interfere with its communication with the delayer When in Local Mode LM the PSD will not accept any command setting the delay the pulse width the threshold the divider the valid edge or the output status See the Main Screen paragraph for details Table 9 shows the serial port configuration parameters Command strings are composed by the actual command
19. e SE string and sends back the same digit as reply 0 high low 1 low gt high Enable Output Enables or disables the output signal The command accepts only one digit or 1 after the EO string and sends back the same digit as reply 0 disable 1 enable EXAMPLE Command SD12346 Delay 12 35 ns String sent from Board 12350 Command SP22 Pulse width duration 21 ns rounded from 22 ns to 21 ns String sent from Board 21 Command SH1505 threshold voltage 1 5 V String sent from Board 1500 Command SV82 Frequency divider 82 String sent from Board 82 Command SE1 significant edge low gt high String sent from Board 1 Command EO1 Output enabled String sent from Board 1 22 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer Echo Mode Enables disables the echo mode Echo Mode is enabled by default at power up The command accepts only one digit or 1 after the EM string and sends back the same digit as reply 0 disable 1 enable Save Status Saves the current configuration by overwriting the PC saved configuration and makes it default The string sent back is composed by the parameters saved Dxxxxx delay in ps Pxxxxx pulsewidth in ns threshold in mV ESx significant edge low gt high 1 or high gt low 0 Vxxx frequency divider factor Request Temperature Requests the current temperatur
20. e of the board Request Delay Requests the current delay of the board Request Pulse width Requests the current pulse width duration of the board Request tHreshold Requests the current threshold voltage of the board Request Edge Requests the current significant edge for trigger in of the board Request Output Requests the current output of the board Request diVider Requests the current input frequency divider factor Request Requests the current parameters of the board The string sent is composed by the following part Dxxxxx delay in ps Pxxxxx pulsewidth in ns threshold in mV EOx enable output enable 1 or disable ESx significant edge low gt high 1 or high gt low 0 Vxxx frequency divider factor x IV PHOTON DEVICES Command EM1 echo mode enabled String sent from Board 1 Current threshold voltage 1210 mV Current Delay 12 3 ns Current significant edge low gt high Current pulse width duration 21 ns Current divider 100 Command SS String sent from Board D12300 P21 T1210 ES1 V100 Current temperature 52 15 C Command RT String sent from Board 52 150 Current delay 13230 ps Command RD String sent from Board 13230 Current pulse width duration 32 ns Command RP String sent from Board 32 Current threshold voltage 1210 mV Command RH String sent from Board 1210 Current significant edge low gt high Command R
21. htness Menu The Brightness Menu illustrated in Figure 14 is used to modify the display brightness In order to understand in detail each one of this menu s components please refer to Table 7 Q Brightness Figure 14 Screenshot of the picosecond delayer s Brightness Menu Table 7 Brightness Menu explained Brightness intensity bar When it is highlighted use the LEFT and RIGHT KEYS for decreasing or increasing the brightness If brightness is null the display is off and only the RIGHT KEY is enabled Goes back to Settings Screen without saving the actual brightness intensity Saves the brightness intensity and goes back to the settings menu 17 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer Software interface Windows only The Picosecond Delayer is provided with a basic acquisition and control software which is running on Microsoft Windows operating systems Installation Complete the following steps in order to install the controlling software for Windows e login as system administrator or as a user with administration privileges e Disable any automatic virus detection programs before you install Some virus detection programs could interfere with installation e Insert the USB key and copy the zip file that contains the installer in a temporary location for example your Desktop e Unzip the file and double click on the file named
22. lt or removed Default configuration is loaded at module power on To understand the details of each of this menu s components please refer to Table 5 Config Name Delay 2300ps Default Pulse 19 ns Div 5 ThLev 1200mV 2 Figure 12 Screenshot of the picosecond delayer s Load Settings Menu 15 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Table 5 Load Settings Menu explained Shows the name of the saved configuration If the row is highlighted by Config Name pressing the LEFT or RIGHT buttons the saved configurations names are cycled Delay 2300ps Default Shows the parameters of the saved configuration named on top of the Div 5 display The Default word appears only if the actual saved configuration Pulse 19 ns has been made default Brand new delayers come with a default ThLev 1200mV configuration preinstalled Goes back to main menu Removes the actual configuration from the saved configurations Sets the configuration as default at power up Loads the shown configuration and goes back to main screen Save Settings Menu The Save Settings Menu illustrated in Figure 13 stores in the module the actual configuration parameters Delay Pulse Threshold Level Divider and edge and assigns a name to it Please note that the output status is not saved and must controlled by the user through the delayer s main screen the EOx serial command see the
23. ng sent from Board name Intrinsic propagation delay 14 25 ns Command RIPD String sent from Board 14250 Current Firmware version 5 1 2 Command FV String sent from Board 5 1 2 Current Hardware version is 5 1 Command RHW String sent from Board 5 1 Picosecond Delayer Serial Commands Error In case of an unrecognized command a request for a setting outside the PSD s limits or the impossibility to set a value the command is not executed and an error is sent back instead of the expected reply The number of characters reserved for the error string is fixed and equal to 5 chars ERRxx plus the string terminator The xx value identifies the error type as described in Table 11 Of course in case of command daisy chaining each transmitted ERRxx string will positioned inside the PSD s replay sequence as the command that generated it thus following our previous example with the EM enabled in case of sending SD100 SE2 SH3500 the PSD reply would be SD100 SE2 SH3500 100 ERRO1I ERROS 24 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES Table 11 Picosecond Delayer Serial Error Commands Picosecond Delayer Linux and Mac Os X The Picosecond Delayer can be effectively and successfully controlled even by computers operated by Linux or Mac Os X operating systems This is possible because the MPD delayer modules employ internally an
24. ng the ENTER KEY the output pulse width can be changed By pressing the LEFT KEY or the RIGHT KEY the digit to be modified is selected and with the UP KEY and the DOWN KEY the digit is actually increased decreased During pulse width value modification it is not possible to change any parameter on the main screen by serial commands delayer in Local Mode Displays the threshold level of the input discriminator The value has grey colour when in OFF STATE green colour if the outputs are enabled and red colour if the last value set in not valid If this row is highlighted by pressing the ENTER KEY the threshold level value can be changed By pressing the LEFT KEY or the RIGHT KEY the digit to be modified is selected and with the UP KEY and the DOWN KEY the digit is actually increased decreased During threshold level value modification it is not possible to change any parameter on the main screen by serial commands delayer in Local Mode Displays the actual delayer s input frequency divider factor The value has grey colour when in OFF STATE green colour if the outputs are enabled and red colour if the last value set in not valid If this row is highlighted by pressing the ENTER KEY the frequency divider factor can be changed By pressing the LEFT KEY or the RIGHT KEY the digit to be modified is selected and with the UP KEY and the DOWN KEY the digit is actually increased decreased During divider factor modification it is not possible to ch
25. o what is described in this manual will apply The input frequency divider control box will be disabled greyed out and set 1 e All the serial commands related to the divider will not be recognised RA command will send back 1 fewer parameter the divider System requirements e USB 2 0 interface e Host computer minimum requirements 300MHz processor and 256 MB of RAM e Supported operating systems o Picosecond Delayer software Microsoft Windows XP Vista 7 8 32 or 64 bit versions o Virtual COM Microsoft Windows XP Vista 7 8 32 or 64 bit versions Linux Ubuntu 12 04 LTS Fedora Core 15 or compatible distributions 32 or 64 bit versions Different distributions should work but were not tested OS X 10 7 5 and above Copyright and disclaimer No part of this manual including the products and software described in it may be reproduced transmitted transcribed stored in a retrieval system or translated into any language in any form or by any means except for the documentation kept by the purchaser for backup purposes without the express written permission of Micro Photon Devices S r l All trademarks mentioned herein are property of their respective companies Micro Photon Devices S r l reserves the right to modify or change the design and the specifications the products described in this document without notice 26 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved
26. ommands explained in a following paragraphs Instead the actual MAX DELAY value is already taken into account when using either the SW interface or the Local Interface see the next paragraph 100 a gt 504 Vu e S o I Oy 4 3 eut 3 e e amp a 9 G rot ed Y 2 E 5 504 4 gt 100 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 Set Delay ps Figure 7 Typical Picosecond Delayer integral non linearity error INL as a function of the set delay after calibration 11 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer Iv PHOTON DEVICES 100 E 50 55 C 460 C 2 50 e A A Y ets amp sa E ES ig jp d PET mata uis e o _ 0 7 ow ae a S ra Td tena e ad Pd ad A s ze e Sh a ies 9 n r 4 5 oon A a o m A 5 50 4 gt 100 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 Set Delay ps Figure 8 Typical Picosecond Delayer integral non linearity error INL as a function of the set delay after calibration at different temperatures SPSD 065 A MOD Picosecond Delayer s mechanical dimensions 169 09 PICOSECOND A DELAYER OOOO 82 NIM OUT TTL OUT MICRO PHOTON DEVICES 108 82 Figure
27. pulse which means that the low logic level is O V and the high logic level is 800 mV The falling edge of the pulse marks with very low jitter the delayed signal the output pulse width is user adjustable SMA output requires 50 Ohm DC terminated transmission lines Electric pulses of 3 3V LVTTL are generated at this output The TTL output pulse width is also user adjustable and itis 1 ns larger than NIM OUT Directional keys are used to navigate through the local interface display to set the delayer s parameters 1 8 TFT screen displays the delayer actual settings For the local interface description see page 13 Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer xT PHOTON DEVICES Picosecond Delayer s Rear Panel Figure 3 Picosecond Delayer s Rear Panel On the Picosecond Delayer s rear panel there are the power switch the power connector the USB connector and a fan opening POWER SWITCH used to switch on and off the picosecond delayer POWER CONNECTOR holds the power supply cord to supply the unit The power connector accepts a LEMO FFG 0B 302 ODU S20LOC P02MJGO 520S or compatible connectors The red mark indicates the 12V pin USB CONNECTOR holds the USB type B cable for PC connection FAN OPENING allows the circulation of fresh air inside the module Never occlude the openings Picosecond Delayer s Electrical Characteristics The logic values and the timing properties
28. setup exe located inside the folder you just unzipped e Follow the instructions on the screen until the installer ends e Windows will automatically recognize the device and install the correct drivers If a found new hardware window appears select the option to automatically download recommended drivers from internet For this reason the computer on which the drivers will be installed MUST BE CONNECTED to the internet The drivers will create a virtual serial COM associated with the Picosecond Delayer e Once completed you can start the controlling software from Windows Start Menu gt Programs gt MPD Picosecond Delayer e Remove the temporary install folder Software Interface The software interface allows the control of the delayer settings with a simple and user friendly window which is shown in Figure 15 and in Figure 16 The window shows always the current status of the delayer In order to understand in detail the interface please refer to Table 8 In order to change the delay the threshold level the output pulse duration or the input frequency divider the desired value s can be inserted in the correct input box es and after pressing the enter key the delayer is immediately updated In order to modify the input signal valid edge the CHANGE EDGE button has to be pressed The TOGGLE OUTPUT STATUS enables or disable the output generation A green LED marks the enabled output The SAVE STAUS button saves the
29. t indicates a broken link a CONS green frame indicates an established link The combo box shows ALL the connected COM ports Thus the correct one must be chosen BOARD TEMPERATURE The box shows the board temperature The temperature is controlled by a closed loop and should be stable at 55 SERIAL NUMBER It shows the MPD serial number The number matches the on the Picosecond delayer label on the back panel ID This is a custom name which the user can change to identify the instrument The name inserted in the ID box is updated on the Picosecond Delayer and will be recalled on the next connection The ID max length is 15 chars and cannot contain or DELAY Sets on the picosecond delayer The current value can be changed by simply modifying it and then pressing the enter key or by using the up and down directional keys The delay is automatically updated when changed THRESHOLD LEVEL Sets and shows the threshold level ThLev on the input discriminator The current value can be changed by simply modifying it and then pressing the enter key or by using the up and down directional keys The threshold is automatically updated when changed OUTPUT PULSE WIDTH Sets and shows the OUT pulse width The current value can be changed by simply modifying it and then pressing the enter key Pulsewidth ns or by using the up and down directional keys The pulse width is automatically updated when ch
30. uency divider by a user selectable positive integer ranging from 1 to 999 of course in case of aperiodic input signals the divider acts as a pulse skipper where given n the dividing factor n 1 input pulses are skipped after each valid input As already specified the minimum INPUT pulse width for positive and negative pulses tin is 100 ps After every output pulse NIM and TTL outputs are off for a period of time called minimum off time tyi orc and Micro Photon Devices S r l Italy All Rights Reserved Picosecond Delayer I PHOTON DEVICES tri orr respectively This off time can vary from 1 ns to 3 ns depending on the actual sample and might be different for the two outputs As said normally for each input pulse NIM and TTL output pulses are generated Anyway as shown in Figure 6 this might not always be the case As a matter of fact given an input pulse considering its significant edge rising or falling all the next ones within toutput orr in case of the NIM output or toutput Ins orr in case of the TTL output are masked This happens because the masked pulses would have to be generated before the end of the previous output pulse In case of a periodic input signal the condition to be satisfied in order not to have the masking effect is the following Tein gt toutput tnim_oFF in case of the NIM output Tein gt toutput 115 _ in case of the TTL output INPUT
31. y minus the set delay as a function of the set delay is always smaller than 100ps in absolute values Actually the excellent linearity of the curve measured delay versus set delay is proved by the very good integral non linearity error of about peak to peak 50ps 100ps over the full range of the programmable delays as shown in Figure 7 As any electronic device the Picosecond Delayer experiences propagation delay changes with temperature variations In order to mitigate the effects of the latter the temperature is stabilized by means of variable speed fan inserted in a thermal control loop After the initial warm up the operating temperature of the delayer board stabilizes at 55 C This value is kept then constant by the thermal control loop with an accuracy of 0 2 C Additionally whenever the set temperature cannot be kept at 55 C the delayer compensates the delay as a function of temperature to reduce delay variations in order to keep the same state of the art performances as shown in example in Figure 8 at three different temperatures Even if temperature compensations maintain extraordinary INLs the delay programmable range can t be compensated and it varies at a rate of 75 ps C For this reasons the set delay can be set from to the temperature dependent MAX DELAY Actual MAX DELAY is constantly hardware updated depending on the actual Delayer temperature This value can be requested to the Picosecond Delayer by using the serial c
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